Let Me Die And Go To Barbra Heaven

December 26, 1986|By Greg Dawson, Sentinel Television Critic

Would you pay $385 to see Barbra Streisand perform, $385 per song?

Five hundred of Barbra's closest friends did just that the night of Sept. 6 at her Malibu home. Each of the invitation-only guests paid $5,000 (earmarked for charity) to witness Streisand's first live concert in 20 years, and HBO was there to record it.

Barbra Streisand: One Voice will air Saturday night at 10. (There are actually two voices, but more about that later.)

''I've been wondering what I could possibly do that would be worth $5,000,'' Streisand tells the chichi throng that made the pilgrimage to her stunning abode (''Camp Barbra,'' Robin Williams calls it) for dinner and 13 songs.

I can't say whether the camping trip was worth $5,000 because I didn't see the menu, but I promise you that the singing alone is worth whatever you paid this month for cable. Call it an early Christmas present from Santa Barbra.

Here is a voice to make the angels weep, or at least Penny Marshall, whom we see wiping away tears after Barbra's ''Send in the Clowns.'' Transfixed is the best word to describe the look on these faces, from Bette Midler to Burt Bacharach to Whitney Houston, artists conceding the existence of a talent greater than their own.

Singing is almost too crass a word for the sound Streisand makes. It's hard to imagine that a sound so sweet and pure could issue from anything so raw as human vocal chords. Usually, it takes a Stradivarius in the hands of a Heifetz.

''I made a promise to myself that no matter where it was or how much it cost, whichever country it was in, I would be there whenever Barbra sang in public again,'' says Sheena Easton.

Of course, Sheena could afford the air fare. So could the rest of this glittery crowd that includes not only entertainers but also politicos such as Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., and Barbara Jordan, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

I could have done with less fawning from the guests and less preaching from the star, who plans to give the money to groups fighting for the environment and human rights and against all things nuclear.

''Thank God that Barbra is doing this,'' says Sally Field.

''This is enormous of her,'' says Henry Winkler.

Barbra dedicates one song, ''Papa, Can You Hear Me?'' (from the movie Yentl) to ''wise and good men'' cut down in their prime. ''Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Anwar Sadat, Olof Palme.''

Olof Palme? The former prime minister of Sweden? Please, Barbra.

The other slight irritation is when Barry Gibb, a mere mortal, joins Streisand on the outdoor stage for two numbers. It's like Harvey Korman joining Lawrence Olivier for a Shakespeare reading. But we get back to the One Voice soon enough.

The program includes ''Evergreen,'' ''People,'' ''The Way We Were,'' ''Over the Rainbow,'' ''Somewhere'' and ''Something's Coming'' from West Side Story and a rendition of ''Happy Days Are Here Again'' that was a bit torchy for my taste.

Streisand is lovely to behold, dressed in a full-length cream-colored turtleneck against the chilly California night. Blue stage lights play in her hair, which falls simply to her shoulders. Steam rises from a cup of tea that Barbra sips between numbers, drifting away with her unearthly earthly sounds. There are worse signals we could be sending other worlds.